Of Butterfrees And Battling
by reppad98
Summary: Bianca and Cheren meet again, and Cheren finds himself losing focus. One-shot. DualrivalShipping. For Nike Slash.


**A/N:** Thank you for clicking on this story! Please enjoy!

This story is written as a present for _Nike Slash_. Happy birthday, and I hope you like this! :D

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

**Of Butterfrees And Battling**

It was a coincidence really. She – clumsy as always – bumped into me during my weekly shopping. The few things I was holding were now laying scattered on the ground, and so was she actually.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry," she immediately apologized, trying to get up and gather my stuff at the same time, and of course failing miserably. "These things always- Cheren?"

The blonde girl stopped moving all together, staring at me. I stared back at her for a moment, not recognizing her. Then it hit me.

"Bianca?"

In appearance, she hadn't changed that much. She was still smaller than me, and somehow it seemed to me that her clothing style hadn't changed at all. Her hair was longer though, and she was now wearing glasses.

She grinned a bit. "You're staring."

"Oh."

Real intelligent Cheren, real intelligent. I mentally face-palmed. But frankly, I couldn't think of anything else. It seemed like my mind had just blanked, all coherent thoughts gone, just completely focused on _her_…

"Ahum," I coughed awkwardly, realizing that yes, I was still staring, and trying to regain my posture, I straightened up. _Say something Cheren, say something!_

"It's nice seeing you again, Bianca. It's been too long."

Gah Cheren, is that the best you can do? You haven't seen her in years and that's all you say?!

Now, Bianca's greeting was way better.

"It's great to see you again, Cheren!"

She squealed a bit, jumping and clasping her hands together. For a moment it almost looked like she wanted to give me a hug, but at the last moment decided against it. It was probably a good thing that she didn't hug me, I wouldn't have known what to do. If just seeing her again made my mind blank, what would happen when she actually _touched _me?

I suddenly became highly aware of something in my stomach, a certain feeling, a nervous wriggling. Oh no…

This was not happening to me. Not with her. Absolutely not.

"How are you?" she asked, breaking me out of my reverie, her eyes shining curiously. She had beautiful eyes, why hadn't I noticed before? They were green, with little specks of gold- Argh, stop it! Just answer her!

"I'm fine, thank you," I responded politely, feeling awkward that I couldn't sound more enthusiastic. "How are you?"

"I'm perfectly okay, thank you." She gave me a big grin, successfully causing my response of "I'm glad to hear that," to die in my throat.

She had a really beautiful smile, I noticed. Promptly, the wriggling in my stomach increased and it felt like there was a metaphorically colony of Bug Pokémon stuck in there, trying to get out.

I knew exactly what sort of Bug Pokémon, but I refused to acknowledge that. Not with her. Definitely not with her. In fact, with everyone_ but _her.

Too caught up in my own thoughts, I didn't reply to her. A disastrous mistake.

Her smile faltered and the sparkle in her eyes seemed to disappear. "Well, I'll leave you alone again now."

No no no no no! Wait, don't go! Panicked, I tried to say something, and when my voice refused to work, I just grabbed her hand.

Stupid stupid stupid.

We both stared at each other, and feeling the blood rise to my cheeks I quickly let go.

"I, erm," I started, then coughed awkwardly. And coughed again. And again. And again.

"Are you okay Cheren?" Bianca asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah." Another cough. Arceus, could this get any worse? "I'm- I'm fine. Just… erm, I mean…"

What do I want to say? What? What?!

"I wondered… maybe we could meet up later…?" I asked, sounding a little too hopeful for my taste, and I quickly added, "If you're still in the city, of course."

I was rewarded with a brilliant smile from her, causing the feeling in my stomach to tenfold.

Damned Butterfrees.

"Oh yeah, I'm here for a few more days. I'm staying in the Pokécenter, room 12. Drop by tomorrow or so, and then you could show me around the city or something?"

It sounded like a question, though it was obvious that she was taking the lead. So I just nodded.

"Alright, that's settled. See you tomorrow Cheren!" With a cheerful wave and another smile she was off, leaving me with jelly knees.

Oh great. This was not going how I liked it.

So. Time for a plan.

For hours, I searched the whole internet for ways to get rid of these feelings. To get rid of these Butterfrees.

And all tips and tricks were useless.

I just needed to focus. Focus focus focus! Not think of her, just focus!

After a while, I decided that it was probably best if we didn't walk around the city. That would distract me way too much, and I would never be able to form a coherent sentence in her proximity.

Plus, but I didn't admit that to myself, it would be too romantic.

So I decided that I was going to challenge her to a Pokémon battle. Just like the old days, two rivals, two friends, having a Pokémon battle. A Pokémon battle would definitely be able to keep my mind on track.

* * *

The next day, I was standing in front of her door, giving myself mental pep talks and taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. For a minute or so, I stood there, motionless, staring at the wooden door. Maybe I should just leave…

No! I was not going to be a coward! Again, I breathed in deeply and then knocked on the door, once.

No answer.

I knocked again, two times, and harder this time.

Still no answer.

Such an anti-climax.

Without a real reason, I fiddled at the doorknob, only to find out that the door was actually open. Typically Bianca, to be so thoughtless of her things. Who knows, a burglar might come and all her stuff would be stolen!

So really, I had a good reason when I went in. I was protecting her properties from potential burglars. Yes, that was what I was doing. And since I didn't have a key, I could not lock the door, so the only option was to stay inside and wait till she came back.

I must say, her room intrigued me a bit. It was just your usual Pokécenter room, but somehow, even though she probably had been staying here for just a day or two, her clothes were scattered all over the place, books and papers flying around everywhere, most of them half finished and with scribbled notes on the sidelines.

I carefully picked one up, curiously, and read a bit. Maybe I was nosing around, but really, I was just curious! Soon I was so completely engulfed in reading the articles about Pokémon and their origins that I didn't notice the sounds in the room next to me.

I was only pulled out of it when I heard a loud screech. I dropped the papers and looked around panicked, mentally preparing myself to find a burglar, a fire, even a mouse, just something that would've explained the feminine screech.

The only thing I found was a half naked Bianca.

"Cheren! What are you doing here?!" she screeched, holding the towel close to her body. Naked body.

Argh, shut up mind. Focus Cheren, focus.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

So far for focusing.

"Cheren," she said, and the tone she used scared me a little. "Please get out. Now."

"Oh- oh yeah, of course," I said hastily and with my eyes adverted to the ground I hurried out of the room.

Well. That could've gone better.

* * *

When Bianca finally came out of her room, I was ready. I was going to be in control, not going to be taken by surprise anymore. No, I would be totally in control.

Totally in control.

Dammit, there was that feeling in my stomach again. Stupid stupid stupid Butterfrees!

"Hello Bianca," I greeted her, ignoring my stomach, acting calmly and totally in control. "I apologize for my earlier intruding."

She was caught completely off guard by my new attitude. I was totally in control, no longer the flustered and stuttering.

She smiled a bit. "It's okay Cheren, don't worry about it. Though, I would like to know… why exactly were in my room?"

"I have a very logical explanation for that, you see," I said, mentally preparing for a little speech. I had thought about a good explanation and reasoning the whole time after the 'incident', and now I was ready to give her exactly that.

Bianca smirked, and that, in combination with her shining eyes, completely made me forget my explanation.

Didn't stop me from trying though.

"You see, I got here because… because…"

I didn't get further than that. A smile was overtaking Bianca's face, and I couldn't resist my burning curiousness longer. "Why are you smiling like that?"

The girl let out a laugh. "Because you haven't changed at all, you're just the same as always, Cheren."

Without a warning, she walked up to me and gave me a long hug, the hug I was supposed to get when we met in the Pokémarket.

"And that is… good?"

I wasn't sure how to handle her sudden change in attitude, completely ruining my plan. Or what was left of it anyway.

No answer came, she just released me from her hug. I had been awkwardly holding my hands on the small of her back, so I wasn't at all bothered when she let go. No matter how warm or soft she was, I was glad that hug was over. Really, I was!

"Whatever reason you had to peek on me while I was showering, I'm sure it was a good one," she said, laughing a bit, though her cheeks were red.

In the meantime, I had turned red too and defended myself, "I was not peeking! I would never- I would never lower myself to such, such… _activities_."

I paused to breathe, ready to continue, but Bianca just smiled and put a hand on my lower arm. "I know Cheren. But before you continue your little rant, what about we sit down somewhere? I saw a very nice little café not far from here."

"It wasn't a rant!" I said heatedly, but she just grabbed my hand and led me downstairs.

"Oh, it definitely was a rant," she said simply, her eyes challenging me to disagree.

And so we continued. Just like the old days. Admittedly, I had forgotten about the Pokémon battle, but about the Butterfrees I had not.

_But really,_ I thought as Bianca handed me my chocolate cone, _those could wait._

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you very much for reading! I hope you somewhat liked it, heh. I would really appreciate it if you would tell me your thoughts about this, so please, review!  
Thanks again!


End file.
